PAVI and PAMA Owner Plans Stock Exchange Listing

PG Group, which owns the PAVI and PAMA supermarkets and Zara franchise amongst others, is planning to list on the stock exchange as it seeks to dispose of a quarter of company shareholding.

PG Group, which owns the PAVI and PAMA supermarkets and Zara franchise amongst others, is planning to list on the stock exchange as it seeks to dispose of a quarter of company shareholding.

The group is looking to sell around 25 million shares through stockbrokers, to be offered to the public for €1 per share. It hopes to sell the shares immediately, anticipating the planned bond issues to be offered by hotel operators DB Group and Eden Leisure in the coming weeks.

This is the first major IPO since MIDI listed the Tigne Point shopping mall in 2013. Zara, PAVI and the PAMA shopping village in Mosta are the crux of PG Group’s wider operations. PAVI handles 35,000 customers a week while PAMA gets 50,000 customers a week.

In recent months, the PG Group appointed former Bank of Valletta chief Charles Borg as chief executive officer, former PricewaterhouseCoopers partner John Zarb as non-executive chairman and tax lawyer Ramona Piscopo as director. The company said the appointments were aimed at strengthening the corporate governance of the board by creating the correct balance between the executive and non-executive directorships.

The company has a number of projects in the pipeline, including expanding the Zara outlet in Sliema by some 900 square metres, making it one of the largest in Europe.